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Originally posted by Makro:
I had the same problem. Turned out that the export-folder listed in exmerge.ini, and therefore in exmerge.exe's GUI, didn't exist (I had copied the two exmerge files from another exch server,therefore the incorrect folder-path in .ini).

It might also be NTFS rights on the output folder.

In a future release, I hope MS adds a better error-notification to the GUI and the logfile.

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• Error configuring message service (MSPST MS) (UNKNOW ERROR)
• Error configuring message service (MSPST MS) (MAPI_E_EXTENDED_ERROR).
  

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• 1. I received about 20 *.pst files created in Outlook 2003, these pst files must be imported into a new Exchange organisation
  
• 2. When I tried to import these PST files with ExMerge I received the error Error configuring message service (MSPST MS) (UNKNOWN ERROR) , after googleling the error I tried all the solutions above and also I found a topic about Outlook 2003 exporting *.pst files in Unicode format as the default format. And that Exmerge cannot read these files.
  
• After changing (within outlook 2003) the pst output format to ASCII, exporting a new pst, and importing these pst files by using ExMerge. I still got a Error, but it changed to: Error configuring message service (MSPST MS) (MAPI_E_EXTENDED_ERROR).
  
• So now I draw the conclusion that ExMerge doesn't process Unicode PST files, but it seems I still have a problem.
  
• when I tried to import the files from within Outlook 2003, ofcourse logged in as the user whoes mailbox I wanted to import, everything worked fine!.
  
• Next thing I tried was to export pst files using ExMerge, and importing these pst files again with ExMerge. !AND THIS WORKED JUST FINE!
  

• You can't use *.pst files exported with Outlook as source files for ExMerge.(Is this true ????)
  
• ExMerge doesn't support Unicode PST files, so I am bound to a max PST file size of 2Gb (Is this true ????)
• I still have a lot to learn
  

quote:

ORIGINAL: Fatboy40

MxNewBie,

I'm in the process of migrating from Novell GroupWise to Exchange 2003 and I'm having the same problem.

I can confirm that under my circumstances a native Outlook 2003 pst file cannot be merged using exmerge, when I work with an Outlook 97-2002 pst file exmerge works exactly as it should do.

I'm very surprised that this is the case as Outlook 2003 is the client that ships with Exchange 2003 [image]http://forums.msexchange.org/image/s9.gif[/image]

1. ExMerge isn't technically part of Exchange 2003, it is a separate application.
2. The latest ExMerge is still backwards compatible with Exchange 5.5, limiting some advancement options.
   
3. Native Outlook 2003 PST files are a complete rewrite of the PST code, breaking backwards compatibility.
4. Item 3 could cause problems with item 2.
   

• Proper permissions are critical on the 2003 side, as others have stated above.
• When connecting to a 2003 server from a 2000 or XP workstation that has the Exchange System Manager and Outlook (any version) installed can generate MAPI errors. This issue doesn't appear to exist when attempting to connect to 5.5 servers.
  • As side note, there is a known issue with ESM and Outlook on the same machine. ESM will generate MAPI errors if you try to administer client permissions on public folders through it. MS has a work around to resolve the problem that involves a registry hack and uninstalling/reinstalling ESM.
    
• You are better off running ExMerge on a machine that does NOT have any version of Outlook installed. This came from an MS support call.
  
• The latest ExMerge tends to generate fewer errors when using PST files generated by itself over those manually created.
  • I have found you will have better luck running ExMerge to extract data from the old system, letting it create its own PST file, then turn around and import the extracted data into the new mailbox.